PerreaultForever

Quebec City would be better. French Connection and all that 🙂

I agree with that. Unless something changes drastically (like a goalie trade) I don't see them making the playoffs and likely being lower than last year despite Peterka having a breakout year, which I still hold to in terms of predictions. Why a team that had Hasek and Miller would not subscribe to the age old idea that you build out from the goal idk but there it is. I guess Pegula and Co. don't pay any attention to history.

Well it did sort of come down to goaltending, but in an odd way. Comrie, boy, he must be made of glass. Great signing KA. I see a lot of lovers of soft hockey here. That's fine, it's your preference, and it'll never work in the playoffs. Clifton's penalty was BS imo and I'm truly surprised so many of you are anti-Clifton on that. Ridiculous. Clifton is short. He didn't jump. For him to "target the head" means the opponent's head was down, way down, and as such Clifton can't be faulted as it's a fast game and following through is what you're supposed to do. Anyone who thinks he can suddenly pull up has probably never laced up a pair of skates. You suspend that and you're basically saying no hitting allowed or you can only run into big tall guys with their heads in the clouds. I expect lots of eye rolls, vomit and red x's from Liger and the softy crowd. Bring it on. It's what you do best. Two teams that love to play the same way and so it comes down to one shot or save here or there and this time they got it. Dead equal otherwise imo. We probably deserved a loser point. VO is still rubbish. cause they did it backwards.

They are horrible, but overall that doesn't match up with the standings.

This is the game that should delight all the "new hockey" people. Should be fast, very fast, all offense, lots of shots and less than average physicality. Game probably comes down to goaltending. But you never know. If either team comes out flat, they will lose.

Maybe Karma caught up with the Sens though.

Maybe. but Tuch went after him and gave him a nice check off the hip. Brady was mad cause they were losing AND cause of the shoulder pop or stinger he got earlier when he left the ice. Not excusing him, but a guy like that, it's going to happen. You just deal with it. Yup. Offensively challenged. DeBrusk is doing nothing. Good goaltending and D has carried them but they cannot score much and likely that holds all season.

You are correct, they have had a tendency to move it around the outside and try for a big shot and most teams force them to the outside to deal with it. The answer isn't complicated though. We saw it in the Ottawa game. Go to the front, screen and tip. Charge the net front for rebounds. Use your size. We already have the speed and puck movement, our point men can shoot, you add the net front on a consistent basis and it's deadly. Once that's in place and teams have to collapse the box to deal with it it'll leave a guy like Tage free and open to snipe same way Stamkos has done for Tampa all these years.

Actually if you watch a little before the fight Tuch started it and I like that he did.

You can't handle it in game when a guy's been turfed out of the game. But you do remember it and you give him that little extra next time. I'm not suggesting you run around all night and toss your game away or "play into his hands" but payback is payback and if it's not a real thing you don't get respect. We are entering a phase where we will be tested, a lot, and how we handle that test will matter for how teams play us (and respect us) in the future. Tuch was looking for it. He was taking runs at him and Bratty Brady got pissed off. WE got to him, he didn't get to us. I have no problem with it, but our guys might need some boxing lessons. Basically I see the whole thing as an encouraging step forwards.

Hmm, that's not good.

I don't watch Rochester but I am curious. Does Rochester play a wide open fast offensive attack game or do they play 2 way hockey? imo the AHL is where they should be teaching these kids defense.

His time is now. KA I give a slightly shorter timeline to because he got a huge head start. Our young core was here sooner than Yzerman's. JBott already brought most of them in. Do you not think that failing to make the playoffs this year would be a failure on the part of management?

Not saying you stop him, but if you have a team that can and will dish it out you gain respect (and maybe a little fear from some) and thus you have less liberties taken against you. It won't stop him but it can hobble him and take him out of being an issue. Not what I'm suggesting at all, but you keep turning the other cheek and see how that goes.

He had a smile/grin on his face. He's fine. More than fine, he's a leader.

On that note Risto hasn't played a single game for the Flyers this year and is apparently headed to LTIR with an "undisclosed" issue. I'm thinking bruised ego.

It was a cheap shot and you deal with it by having a team that's tough and you take it out on him on the ice next game. Hit him every shift every chance you get. That's how you stop it, not with the league.

No he wouldn't. I am constantly amazed how many people keep saying "he's garbage" but also "he'd get claimed". It's nonsense.

Well that was fun. What a difference a day makes. Maybe red and black at home and these road jerseys for the away games. Either that or just play all our games on the road cause for the second year now we seem better away from Buffalo. The physical shenanigans at the end seemed to throw us off our game a little and it would be nice to have a better goalie but a lot of things to like in this game including the push back and some of the physical instigation even. I don't know the stats, but I suspect we are way ahead of our hits per game totals from last year. More like this please.

No, the correct play is for the young goalie to PLAY at a lower level and to get constant coaching while he does it. The AHL team is for developing your young talent and that's where he should be now and should have been all last year as well. Consider Thompson and Mitts. Both rushed into an NHL line up, both struggled mightily, both went down, learned to play better and then came back better players actually suited to the NHL. UPL needs the same. In this regard I am hopeful that we do not try to rush Benson and Savoie and am also hopeful that with a better roster we keep the players like Kulich and Rosen in the AHL long enough for them to become good NHL ready players in time.

Savoie didn't even play a single preseason game. So no. I would however replace VO with our best defensive forward prospect in Rochester, whoever that is.

SHOULD be a given, but it hasn't been. I've been harping on that for years. Still am. Which is why I see tonight's game as so important. If you don't bring it for a game against your direct competition you likely never will (or at least not regularly enough for it to matter). It's a true test. The "core" were all here last year. No excuses.

The way I like it!

You can BE BOTH . The much ridiculed Yzerplan added several veterans and a plethora of draft picks as I think they had 2 firsts and several seconds last year and have 2 firsts next year. They used their cap money. Too soon to say if it has worked, but they have tried to be that thing you want (which I agree with).

The Bruins haven't played particularly well but their defense and goaltending is solid as ever. They are goal scoring challenged though. The surprise emergence of the new kid (Poitras) has allowed them to look a little more like last year's team but overall, they have trouble scoring and some of them are slow. I think they play the Wings this week or weekend. That'll be their first real test to see if they can actually compete this year with what they have. It's funny to me personally, because they are the exact opposite of what we are. We have the offense. If you put the two teams together and divided them up evenly with defense and offense you'd end up with two perhaps perfectly balanced and solid teams. As is, it's a complete contrast in style (and age).